Poll: Would a game where you played a nazi/terrorist be acceptable?

[TotalerKrieger]

A WW2 game which follows a German perspective would be way more controversial if it were set on the very familiar Western Front rather than the Eastern Front. A game which involves killing Allied soldiers during WW2 would probably be poorly received by Western audiences.

On the other hand, we've all played countless games where the Ruskies are the villians, so I imagine they could get away with an Eastern Front setting. There is more than enough anti-communist sentiment (well..really more a distrust of anything that isn't Uncle Sam approved capitalism) & apathy to killing a far flung eastern opponents among the average COD player to make such a game successful.

 

[Mr F.]

Company of Heroes, Opposing Fronts. Or Tales of Valor. Both have German campaigns, fully fledged and fucking awesome.

So it can be done.

BUT...

It would massively depend on the content. Been brainstorming a game based on the Irish independence movement (From about 1914 onwards, I was thinking) in which you would most certainly play as (Or against) a mixture of terrorists and freedom fighters (Was coming up with a few interesting ideas on the way you could make that work). It really, REALLY depends on the content.

A game when you bomb military sites in an effort to gain independence for your people? Totally acceptable.
A game based around slaughtering innocents in the name of Allah/Christ/Flying Spaghetti Monster? Well... It really fucking depends.

And as for the Nazi thing? See the above examples of it being done well. There is a massive difference between a conscript (Or volunteer) fighting for their country during a war which brought a continent to its knees and a member of the Waffen SS hunting jews. Whilst technically all members of the German army were members of the Nazi party, not all of them were Nazis.

Want to play as a terrorist? Boot up GTA.

 

[Iwata]

You already played a terrorist in Spec Ops: The Line. It's all in the context.

One man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter.

OT: If it's pulled off well, I think the premise could be good.

Very true. It can be argued that in games like Freedom Fighters, Homefront, The Saboteur or Operation Flashpoint: Resistance, you are indeed playing as a terrorist, through the eyes of the opposition.

 

[sextus the crazy]

You already played a terrorist in Spec Ops: The Line. It's all in the context.

One man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter.

OT: If it's pulled off well, I think the premise could be good.

Very true. It can be argued that in games like Freedom Fighters, Homefront, The Saboteur or Operation Flashpoint: Resistance, you are indeed playing as a terrorist, through the eyes of the opposition.

exactly, it's all a matter of perspective. So really, we've got tons of games were you can play as terrorists.

 

[Mr. Eff_v1legacy]

There is no subject that video games shouldn't be allowed to address.
Regardless of the content, it's fine by me. A game with a serious tone could lead to some pretty great story telling, given the interactive nature of the medium.

 

[Orange12345]

depends on the context if the game is racist or promoting in-equality then no, however a historically accurate game about WW2 from a German's perspective would be quite interesting to me

 

[NightmareExpress]

What if you play as a terrorist in all of the games, but just don't know it?
Woah.

To some extent, I think it's all a matter of perspective and what you believe "good and bad" to be.
We are taught our ways to be correct and righteous, and theirs to be villainous and inhumane. When you look deeper, neither side is completely good nor completely evil. Everything that happens is just an action with morality attached to it according to our perception (rather, what we're taught) of "good/bad". If we were growing up on the opposite side of the fence, our views would likely be the complete opposite of how they are now.

If I played a game as a terrorist, I would feel no different than if I was playing a game as a regular soldier or any other individual that "defeats" or kills the enemy. As long as the leader/player isn't a maniac with a mustache, monocle and a fetish for tying women down on train tracks, I can see it as a thought provoking experience. At the end of the day, every person is a person fighting for the same general thing. Not every Nazi party supporter was evil, not every "Nazi" soldier was evil. Some of them were (by the common western definition), sure, but some of "our guys" weren't much better. I'm quite certain some of those Taliban members were poor farmers sick of seeing their families starve and get pushed around by foreigners.

But enough of that talk. I don't see why it wouldn't be acceptable, but I can see why they wouldn't put it out.
It would be full of controversy and you'd likely not see it put out by any big name studio, unless the situation be Elves vs Humans in the medieval fantasy setting (like The Witcher 2).

 

[Campaigner]

Well that question was objective :bith please!:

Op, where do you get your info from..? I'm guessing hollywood and fox news.



Since I am a National Socialist myself (or a Germanian Nationalist as I sometimes call myself) I would cheerish the moment to play as those I look up to since I believe the 3rd Reich was a paradise to live in. A pro-white state that acted FOR the people and was a rolemodel in programs like childsupport (getting money for having children) and animalrights (which are still unequaled to this day if an article I read 6 months ago is correct).

I also do not believe in hollywood lies & propaganda.


With 'Terrorist' I'll go with the accepted term.

Killing civilians and causing havoc: Killing civilians would be a bit hard to enjoy but I would love to cause havoc with righteous operations like destroying the white house and such. I would prefer to attack the US since they are the worst imperialist warmonger the last 60 years but other nations would work as well.

 

[The Hero Killer]

I would be interested, as horrible as the Nazi's were I must admit I like the "look" of the officers and the way the soldiers carried themselves. It has alot to do with why I have a big love for the Hellghast army in the Killzone series. It would allow you to paint a full picture of the conflict that you could only get from hearing both sides of the story. Now this only pertains to the Axis powers, I dont care to play or learn about the Taliban or other middle eastern terrorists.

 

[Souleks]

I've wanted Call of Duty: Wehrmacht since 2008.

It would be all kinds of awesome.

Can the tank mission be with Rommel in Northern Africa?

 

[junkmanuk]

depends on the context if the game is racist or promoting in-equality then no, however a historically accurate game about WW2 from a German's perspective would be quite interesting to me

Try Iron Front, they've pulled out the stops to emulate the weapons and vehicles used by the Germans and Russians during WW2 and it's based on the Arma II engine. You can get a D-Day 1944 DLC as well.

The map editor allows you to create your own scenarios as well so you have complete freedom to be on whichever side you want.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ymwY-79IYQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2oJ4WlsECPM

 

[The_Echo]

Really, if you spin a given game's narrative in the right way, you do play as a terrorist.

But playing as a Nazi or Al-Qaeda soldier? Well. Let's just say you'd have trouble pitching it to a publisher, unless the idea was that the player character was actually defecting through some change or heart.

It's a touchy subject, one that most companies won't bother taking the risk on.

 

[Xpwn3ntial]

Can the tank mission be with Rommel in Northern Africa?

You had to ask? That's the main attraction!
You know, outside of playing as a Nazi. Which, again; awesome.

 

[octafish]

You already played a terrorist in Spec Ops: The Line. It's all in the context.

One man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter.

OT: If it's pulled off well, I think the premise could be good.

Very true. It can be argued that in games like Freedom Fighters, Homefront, The Saboteur or Operation Flashpoint: Resistance, you are indeed playing as a terrorist, through the eyes of the opposition.

The Saboteur exactly. If the game didn't rig it so that you couldn't cause collateral damage, it would be a spot on Terrorist/Insurgent game.

I also would welcome a fully thought out WW2 game where you played characters from all the sides in the conflict. Think of the treatment Eastwood gave Flags of Our Fathers and Letters from Iwo Jima. Think of playing out the mindless horror of the Eastern Front as both a Werhmact soldier facing the hordes of Russia and as a member of a Russian Penal Unit sent into combat armed only with a stick.

If a game like COD4 where you play as war criminals can be made and be a success then why not any other game.

 

[Magikarp]

You already play a terrorist in most of the popular "western shooters". Majority of Call of Shitties have you shredding shanty-towns with lead or bombing entire villages with high-explosive munitions via thermal optics, etc.

Its kinda the definition of terrorism to go around scaring the shit out of people and blowing everything up.

OooooOoooH. You mean play as the "bad guys" as defined by the west. Yea, absolutely nothing wrong with it. If you had a problem with it, then you're nationalist, an imperialist and saturated with propaganda. I mean really, if you don't have a problem with slaughtering hundreds of thousands of people "of middle-east origin", but you start getting uppity over a change in the playing field... well son, you got problems.

Wow, you're soooo edgy...

I think it would be an interesting idea, especially if it portrayed the point of view of the terrorists as positive, but there would be media outcry over that, so I can't really see it happening.

 

[NSGrendel]

I voted yes, but best of luck getting it on Steam. So you're basically censored by the publishers anyway.

 

[Strazdas]

Yes. Any content in a game is acceptable. What is not acceptable is you payin money for content you dislike. but noones forcing you to buy the game is there?